Golden Sun: The Lost Clan
by Phoenixfire1389
Summary: A mysterious girl flees her enemies and winds up in Weyard... Meanwhile, Sheba has fallen ill, and the Wise One has told Felix that only the mysterious Lost Clan can aide her. Could these two events be connected? (Rated for language, and some possible sug
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Disclaimer: I do not, sadly, own Golden Sun or any of its characters. I do not own the bits and pieces I am borrowing from Yugioh, either (This story was originally thought up as a Golden Sun/Yugioh cross over. I'll try to keep the Yugioh to a minimum...) Nor do I own the "Roleback" song used in the Walmart commercials. (You know the one I'm talking about) I'm about 95 sure that I own my own brain. Also, this is my first fanfic that I've ever posted, so I blame any mistakes on my lack of expierence. And... ah, yes, all the other characters in this story and the plot belong to me! If you steal them, I will do... bad things to you! evil laughter

Pairings will probably be as follows: Felix/Sheba, Isaac/Jenna, Ivan/OC, and possibly Garet/Mia.

Prologue: Down the rabbit hole…

Alanna danced out of the way as a bolt of black lightning slammed into her previous position, pointedly favoring her injured leg. Blood ran down her right leg in angry red rivulets, and every movement jarred the offending limb, sending waves of agony through the teenager's body. _Definitely broken something this time, _she thought glumly. Of course, the chances of there being a 'next time' were looking slimmer and slimmer.

She kicked a faceless mannequin into her opponent's path, hoping to stall for a bit of time, and maybe find a way out of the death trap that was the old, abandoned mall. Her adversary cut through the mannequin effortlessly with her giant black scythe, and Alanna shuddered, as if the doll's fate was an omen of her own. The scythe came down for her head as her enemy smiled a feral smile like a wild beast, her dead black eyes promising death. Too injured to dodge, Alanna decided to try something she hadn't dared to try in their battle so far, she raised her weapon in a desperate attempt to block.

Broken holy sword met cursed scythe in a shower of multicolored sparks, and, miraculously, Alanna's one-handed parry held against her opponent's double-handed downward swipe. Alanna was driven to her knees by the force, but the attack didn't go through.

"What did you hope to gain from that, Alanna Magdalena Keller?" asked the wielder of the scythe.

"_This_," Alanna snarled, ramming the bolt of lightning she had been charging for quite some time into her opponent's unprotected stomach with her free hand. There was a blinding flash and a deafening crack as the other woman was hurled into the air to land gracelessly in a pile of rusting and broken steel support beams and other construction items. Alanna brushed a clump of chestnut brown hair out of her face. She'd lost her hair tie somewhere in the struggle, so her hair hung in limp, tangled, sweaty mats down her back. As she struggled to catch her breath and glared pure, undiluted hate at the prone form of her enemy, she prayed to the goddess Luna that the filthy excuse for humanity wouldn't rise again. Using some of the last of her psynergy, she cast out her senses to see if her enemy was playing possum. No, the wretched, loathsome woman was well and truly unconscious, and had received several very serious injuries when she had landed, including at least two broken limbs and a punctured lung. "Blessed be Luna, I can finally finish her off…"

"Mistress Liriel!" Shouted a voice from somewhere on the first floor, echoed by several others. Alanna cursed her own stupidity for forgetting about Liriel's cronies. She had had three options.

Finish off Liriel and risk getting caught by loyal henchmen.

Flee, hope to hell she could find a mirror on this floor, and gate the hell out of this rat trap.

Drag Liriel along with her so she could be tried according to clan law.

"Screw clan law," Alanna sneered, limping over to her fallen nemesis and raising her broken sword over her head…

"There she is!" was the only warning Alanna got. She barely managed to throw herself to the floor quickly enough to avoid the barrage of spells that came flying through the door. Alanna counted one, two… five flunkies. Four too many for her to handle in her weakened condition…

"Blessed be Luna!" Alanna gasped. Lying on the floor not ten feet away was an intact mirror big enough to be used as a portal… If only she could get there in time…!

"Ready spells! Be sure not to hit the Mistress! On my mark!"

Alanna started to roll away.

"One!"

_Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'… _Alanna sang in the back of her head, laughing somewhat hysterically under her breath.

"Two!"

_Keep that body Rollin'… _She was actually going to make it out of this mess alive…

"Three!"

_Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'… ROLEBACK! _sang the crazy part of her brain. She felt the transition from concrete to glass. She was on top of the mirror.

"Four!"

"Sorry, gentlemen, but I win today," Alanna sneered.

"FIVE! Fire at…!"

It was too late. Alanna had vanished, leaving only the echo of her mocking laughter and the memory of a pair of gleaming silver eyes.

"_Saranderish'Avalen," _she said as soon as her entire body had fallen through the portal. The vague light of the portal winked out and she allowed herself to fall unchecked for several moments, imagining the screams of the underlings as the mirror exploded in hundreds of glass shards flying everywhere like airborne knives. Perhaps, if she was lucky, one of those knives would slit Liriel's throat…

_No. That would be _far_ too much luck for one day. Just be grateful you're alive… _she told herself. She halted her fall and came to hover in the sea of inky purple blackness, called the Realm of Shadows by her people. She had always loved spending time in the Realm, one of the many oddities that had set her apart as a child, but this wasn't the best time to bask in the blackness. First of all, she had depleted almost all of her psynergetic energies in her fight with Liriel. Since the Realm was a dead plane, those energies wouldn't be able to replenish themselves until she left. Secondly, she had been wounded multiple times in her fight with Liriel. And those wounds were going to attract the monsters that lived in the Realm.

_And since I left my dueling deck at home, I have no way to summon monsters to fight them, _she thought bitterly to herself. _Today's Mistake #17. _

Now… a Portal that would lead her home so she could have her injuries healed and get some much-needed sleep… _Rosemary had better be grateful. This is, after all, _her _fault…_

She felt the disturbance of a portal opening and cursed eloquently in the Old Language. It hadn't occurred to her that Liriel's servants would find another portal so quickly. Luckily, they were fairly far away from her. Of course, distance didn't mean much of anything in the Realm. So, she did the only thing she could think of in the situation. She hurled herself through the nearest portal, praying to Luna that it would take her someplace relatively safe. And, preferably, somewhere on the same planet and in the same universe she'd been born in…

Felix held Sheba close as the coughing and compulsive spasms subsided. The attacks seemed to get worse every time, and more frequent. This, for example, was the third episode she'd had in two weeks. _At least she didn't cough up any blood this time, _he thought absently, stroking her short blonde hair away from her face.

Sheba's mysterious illness had started shortly after they had activated the fourth Lighthouse and returned to Vale to help with the reconstruction. It hadn't seemed too dangerous at the time, just a bit of coughing and a sensitivity to the cold. Things had escalated from there, and Sheba had grown weaker and weaker. Mia and Piers couldn't do anything to heal this mysterious illness.

Sheba was dying.

He'd promised he'd always protect her.

Now, if he wanted to keep that promise, he had exactly one option left. An option he truly despised.

With a world-weary sigh, he laid Sheba down on the bed and made sure she was properly covered by the sheet, before climbing down the stairs and exiting his family's newly-completed home. As he had expected, Jenna, Isaac, and Garet were waiting for him right outside.

"Felix." Dark brown eyes met light blue ones. "It's time, isn't it?"

"Yes," Felix sighed, spitting on the ground and laughing bitterly. "It's time for us to visit the Wise One once again.

You see... the purple button... Review... it commands you to review... dodges the flames


	2. Luna and Sol

Oh. My. God. People actually like my story! And they like it enough to put it on their favorites list!(Faints from sheer joy)

I will try to update regularly. (For example, I **was **going to go to bed. Then I read the reviews and decided to finish this chapter instead.) (OOOH! Figured out how to put in POV breaks! And here was me, thinking that little button was for underline or something...)

By the way, what is a Mary Sue? I _think _it's an OC that falls in love with a character from… whatever your fic is based on. Am I right? (never could really be sure when I was reading other fanfic, because there was never more than a passing, flame-type mention of them)

Chapter One: Luna and Sol

"_I see you have finally decided to return to me for advice, children," _the Wise One commented telepathically, its single eye fixing them with its unblinking glare. Felix had to force himself not to grit his teeth at the sound of amusement in the Wise One's 'voice'. _"It is because of the girl called Sheba, is it not?"_

"Yes," Felix replied civilly, as Jenna stomped on Garet's foot to keep him from making a stupid comment. Much as Felix hated the Wise One for what it had done to his parents, if it could save Sheba, than he would do anything.

"_Than I have mixed news for you, children. I do know what ails Sheba. However, I am unable to aid her myself." _Felix gritted his teeth. _"She was created from the power of both Light and Darkness, and has the ability to wield the powers of both. Her illness stems from that ability, for the conflicting elements, left unchecked, will consume one another, destroying her body in the process. She might be able to obtain the power of Light by herself, but to gain any mastery over the darkness, she will need a teacher, an Adept of the Lost Clan…"_

"What are you talking about?" Felix demanded.

"I sense another quest on the horizon," Garet muttered. Jenna kicked him in the shins to shut him up.

"_Hmm… how to explain…"_

"_In the ancient times of peace the world was ruled by the Six Great Clans. The Fire Clan, the children of Mars, the Earth Clan, the children of Venus, the Wind Clan, the children of Jupiter, the Water Clan, the children Mercury, the Phoenix Clan, the children of Sol, and the Dragon Clan, the children of Luna._

"_When the ancient war broke out, the six clans, each a separate nation with different strengths and weaknesses, allied against one another in a struggle that threatened to destroy our very world. The only thing we do know about this ancient war is that it centered on some conflict between the Phoenix Clan and the Dragon Clan._

"_When the war continued for years without ceasing, the Ancients decided that anything would be worth ending the war. At this point, the Phoenix Clan came up with the concept of sealing away the power of Alchemy. However, when their plans became public to the other five clans, the Dragon Clan protested, saying that the price of ending the war in that manner was too high."_

"And they were right," Garet muttered, "Stupid fools, sealing away the lifeblood of Weyard to end their petty squabbling…"

"Like _you _should talk," Jenna hissed, hitting him lightly over the head with her staff

"_Ahem. Seeing as the people of Vale are the descendants of the Phoenix Clan, I don't see where you have room to judge, Garet. Now, as I was saying …"_

"_The Dragon Clan pleaded with the other clans to seek another path to reconciliation, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Seeing that nothing they could say or do would change the minds of the other clans, the Dragon Clan called upon their dark powers and fled Weyard, the land they had sworn to protect. However, they did swear by Luna herself to return should the other clans ever… 'repent of their folly and unbind our beloved homeland'. They also aided in my creation before leaving… but once the seal was placed, the Lost Clan was never seen nor heard from again. Those few that did stay were struck down by plague or the elements, as if the very land rejected them. Within a single generation, the Dragon Clan was no more in the land of Weyard, and the ways of the Darkness were lost with them._

"It sounds like the Dragon Clan was very powerful." (And probably evil. They DID help to create the wise one…) Felix said evenly. "But you said so yourself that they all disappeared when the seal was placed on the power of Alchemy. How is this going to help Sheba?"

"_But the seal has been broken. Since it is, the Children of the Moon will likely return. You must find them and convince them to train Sheba."_

Felix inhaled sharply. "What will happen if I _don't _find a Dragon Clan Adept?"

"_Then Sheba will be torn to pieces by her own power from the inside out. It is one of the most painful deaths an Adept can die, and one of the slowest."_

"Then I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Felix growled. The Wise One said nothing, but Felix got the distinct impression that it was smirking at him.

_

* * *

_

_Cool. Damp. Hard. Where the hell am I? _Alanna wondered to herself as she forced her eyes open and dragged herself to her knees. She felt like every inch of her skin stung. But what the _hell_…

Glass. She was sitting in a sea of broken glass. On the wall next to her was what looked like a mirror frame. _Did I cast the Portal Breaker again? _she wondered. _Silly thing to do from this side of a mirror…_ Then her eyes registered her broken sword sticking out what looked like a wooden mirror frame, buried to the hilt. _Oh. Well, at least that stops them from following. _The fact that the sword had gone through several inches of solid rock didn't bother her. It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened._ Now, where in Luna's name am I?_

Stone walls surrounded her, as well as crates that seemed to be filled with various trade goods. The only light came from a hole in the thick wooden door…no, a tiny window. The flickering light was… torchlight, perhaps? Which meant she was underground, or at least in a place with no windows. And she had trashed the only easy escape route. _Today's Mistake #18. Or maybe the first mistake of today. I still have no idea how long I was unconscious._ So… where the heck was she? A store room? Hmm…then why was the floor damp? Shouldn't a store room be dry?

She touched her damp cheek. Her fingers came away red.

_Aaah… it appears I was hurt a lot worse than I first thought… _she realized numbly. And then she realized what was stinging so badly. Hundreds of cuts from flying glass. She looked down at her feet, and the huge pool of crimson that had ruined her light blue jeans and her favorite violet blouse. _I was going to need to throw this stuff out anyway, _she consoled herself, trying very hard not to think about how she'd survived after losing so much blood. Heather was still going to kill her, though. At least this time, she hadn't been wearing clothing borrowed from her twin. She could still see Laurel's glare…

_Off-subject. Very off-subject. Priority one: Get outside. Or better yet, find another mirror. _Moving gingerly so as not to reopen her wounds, Alanna pulled her sword out of the wall and returned it to its proper resting place – hanging on a leather rope from her neck. Then, with equal caution, she made her way to the door and pushed lightly against it.

Locked. And bolted. From the outside.

She could have screamed in frustration. Luckily, she knew of at least one way out. But could her body take it without passing out again?

"Guess I'll just have to find out the hard way," Alanna muttered as she started to charge a basic Plasma spell.

* * *

"…van? Ivan, wake up!"

"Gah!" yelped the blonde-haired teenager, falling from his perch in the half-finished house's support beams, barely getting a grip on his psynergy quickly enough to stop the fall. His older sister Hama _tsked_ in annoyance.

"Honestly, Ivan! You can't just fall asleep like this! You could have gotten hurt!"

Think. Some way to placate his sister's motherly instincts. Yes, he'd fallen asleep. Hadn't he had a dream? What had it been about? Something… silver…

…_Silver eyes?_

"… and are you even listening to me?" she growled, exasperated.

"No," he replied honestly. There wasn't any point in lying to another wind Adept… she'd know instantly. _That couldn't have been a vision of the future. And there's no point in telling Hama about it if it's not… she'll just get excited for no reason…_

"I… oh, I've gotten sidetracked. Listen, Felix and the others want to see all of us. They've found out what's wrong with Sheba."

"Really? That's a relief. As long as… it _is _curable, right?" he asked, noting the worried look on Hama's face.

"_That _is what we need to talk about," Hama sighed.

_Nope, don't like that tone AT ALL._

* * *

Sorry the Wise One's history was so long. Yes, I am aware that I have taken some liberties with the original history of the war that ended the Golden Age. Yes, I know it was long, but it needed to be in there. Is Hama one or two m's? I need to get the original Golden Sun game back from my kid sister and replay for reference. Ivan and Hama feel drastically OOC. Of course, it IS almost midnight. That might have something to do with it…


	3. Preparations

Disclaimer: Um… you read the prologue, right? Well, everything you need to know is RIGHT THERE. Oh, and Alanna is my character. I think I first saw the name 'Alanna' in the Wheel of Time series, but I checked in my mom's books of names, and it IS a real name. So technically, I don't have to give credit to anyone. And CAUTION: spoilers if you haven't beaten the game yet! You have been warned…

Author's note – A clarification on the clans (Because that darn Wise One never gives enough information…)

Phoenix Clan: Can use light magic. Light magic is cool because it dispels shadow magic, and does critical damage to Shadow magic-users Some shadow-magic users are even allergic to light magic! The Phoenix Clan has several other… special powers… that I can't go into right now because it would be a massive spoiler.

Dragon Clan: Can use shadow magic, which does critical damage to light magic users. Can travel between worlds, or simply from one space to another, by traveling through the Shadow Realm and using mirrors as portals. (This ability is called Worldgating by the Dragon Clan). Like the Phoenix Clan, they have a few other abilities that I refuse to spell out at the present moment for sake of not giving out spoilers.

Oh, and another note on the Dragon Clan. Their basic governing structure is several Houses that sort of function like their own mini-countries, with a ruling council, and a Master, who's sort of like the ruling lord. (The Master acts as embassy to the other Houses, and has a lot of say in the governing of the House, but can be overridden by the ruling council of the House. I will go into this in more detail in later chapters.)

Thank you for your reviews! I was so worried that when I posted this story that no one was going to like it! Now that I've rambled quite a deal, on with the story.

Chapter 2: Preparations

The merchant Hamet and his wife jerked in surprise as their manor lurched slightly.

"What on earth was _that_?" Hamet mused. It had felt like it had come from below them… maybe an earthquake?

Another sound; feet running in his direction.

"Lord Hamet! There was an explosion in the western storage area! We're sending a group of guards to investigate now!" reported one of the guards.

"They'd better be on alert," Hamet muttered, color starting to drain from his face. There wasn't anything explosive in the western storage area. So that meant two options. One: there was a thief in the complex, which was unlikely for two reasons. First of all, the chances of a thief sneaking so far into the manor undetected were almost zero. But secondly, no thief would be silly enough to set off such an explosion and alert the manor to his or her presence.

Which left Option Two: there was an unknown enemy Adept in his house. The thought made him want to melt into the floor and disappear. He'd seen his foster child Ivan work his magic; the thought of someone in his home with those same powers and possibly malicious intent made his blood run cold. If the intruder was indeed an Adept, no amount of soldiers was going to be enough.

For the first time in his life, Hamet found himself praying for thieves. He couldn't suppress a dark chuckle at the irony.

* * *

"Pull!" Laurel shouted in a voice like ice. Targets flew up into air. Targets were torn to pieces by a flurry of icy blades. Rose yelped, and scurried through the knee-deep snow do avoid the falling debris.

A head poked out of one of the third story windows in the old Victorian house.

"Laurel, you've been at it for three hours, and it's freezing cold outside! You and Rose need to come inside now and warm up!" Heather shouted, clearly vexed. Her normally immaculate black hair was in a sloppy bun, and her usually smart-looking white blouse and pale blue blazer were wrinkled. Laurel figured it was a toss-up as to whether Heather had slept in her clothes, or whether she had simply worked the entire night without sleeping. That would be just like her…

Laurel knew why. It was the same reason she was out here tearing the heck out of blocks of wood and whatever other junk Rose could find to mount on the mini catapult that she and Alanna had rigged up several years ago for exactly the purpose she was using it for now.

It had been a full day, and Alanna still wasn't back.

Oh, she wasn't dead. The House's protective shields were set to collapse in on themselves the moment the Master of the Fourth House died, an ancient failsafe to deter assassination attempts within the House. But she was somewhere, wounded no doubt, (she HAD been fighting Liriel) and clearly unable to get home. And the thought of her twin sister alone in someplace cold and dark made Laurel REALLY want to tear something into tiny, bloody pieces.

_If Alanna doesn't come home soon, I'm going to have to masquerade as her! She knows how much I hate that!_

Laurel and Alanna looked almost exactly alike. There were differences though. Laurel's features were sharper, her eyes colder, and her hair about a shade darker. Most people described Laurel as 'A woman like a blade made out of ice. Both cold and beautiful, something that will freeze your heart and cut you to pieces if you touch it.'

Laurel liked people thinking of her that way. She didn't want them to try and get close to her.

Laurel also had two tattoos; A white, Chinese-style dragon that twined itself around her right arm from her wrist to her shoulder, and a blood-red briar rose on her left shoulder. How Heather had fumed when she had come back home with those! But she didn't regret it. It helped people to remember that she was more than Alanna's shadow.

"We'd better go inside," Laurel said curtly to Rose. The eleven-year old girl only nodded. She was still withdrawn, blaming herself, no doubt, for what had happened yesterday. Well, it was mostly her fault, anyway. Laurel wasn't going to say a comforting word this time: Rosemary needed to learn to be more careful.

Still, she hated seeing Rose so down. The three of them really depended on Rose to keep their spirits up…

"Don't be so miserable, Rose, Alanna's gotten out of tighter spots before. And don't blame yourself, either. Liriel has tricked many Adepts older and wiser than you, our mother included."

Damn. So much for her resolve…

Rose looked up at her, with tears in her silver eyes.

"Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Laurel," Rose said quietly, choking on the sobs she was holding back. "But I know you're really furious with me. And you should be. This is all my fault…" With that, Rose turned on her heel and rushed inside, curly red-brown hair streaming behind her as she slogged her way through the deep snow, struggling against the biting wind.

"That went well," Laurel muttered, before following. Laurel hoped, briefly, that some of Liriel's goons would try to test the House defenses. She really needed to kill something in the worst way…

* * *

Alanna forced her eyes to open. She was lying on a stone floor. Had she fallen asleep in the basement again while referencing something _again_? There was certainly enough dust in the air. She sneezed and sat up, blinking lazily. Oh, she would definitely be scolded for this, falling asleep standing up…

She blinked. Why was she sitting in the middle of a pile of charred wood that had once been a door? And there were no corridors in her basement…

_Oh. Crap_tas_tic._

She was still in unknown location, with no way out. And, judging by the state one simple Plasma spell had left her in, she didn't have the strength to stand, so she wasn't even going to bother to try. She could already feel the dull ache of what was going to be a truly monstrous headache. She hadn't overdrawn herself this badly since… well…

_Since Christmas Eve… four years ago…_

She forced the errant thoughts to the back of her mind, they were not going to help her now. As a mater of fact, nothing really would. So, there was really only one logical thing to do.

* * *

Dora was flittering around their newly-completed house, filling bags with travel rations and muttering nervously under her breath. Isaac winced. He knew she didn't want him to be leaving again so soon on yet another dangerous quest. At least she wasn't avoiding him the way she had been before he had left the last time…

"… no directions, none at all! Just like the last time! I… if it weren't an all-powerful floating rock I would pound some sense into it, I would! Disgraceful… no idea when I'll see my son again…"

Sick of listening to his mother's ramblings, Isaac crept out of the house, closing the door quietly. He was more than a bit surprised to see Jenna sitting outside his house, leaning against the house wall just beneath a window, her gaze focused inward and her expression rather unhappy…

"Jenna? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Huh…" Jenna gasped, jumping slightly. "Ah… I didn't know you were there, Isaac. I'm sorry."

"You should really pay more attention to your surroundings," Isaac chided gently. "It's not like you to be so withdrawn. Does this have anything to do with why you're sitting here in front of my house instead of down at your place getting ready with Felix?"

"Um…" she looked away from him, blushing slightly.

"Okay, now I know something's bothering you. Will you tell me what it is, Jenna?"

"Ah… you see, my parents… they don't want me to go."

"_What!" _Isaac gasped, barely remembering not to shout. "But… how can they do that? You're more than strong enough to take care of yourself…"

"Not according to them…" Jenna muttered darkly.

"…and… and there's just no good reason for them to keep you from going," he finished lamely. He wanted to just come out and say that he didn't want to make this journey without her… but, knowing Jenna, she'd probably just box his ears and berate him for not being more worried about Sheba. Maybe he should talk to Ivan… Ivan always seemed to understand why people were doing things, he was uncannily perceptive. Isaac fervently hoped that perceptiveness extended to women…

"They're worried about both of us going away again. Not surprising, since the last time we left them alone the Wise One turned them into dragons… They're arguing with Felix right now. I didn't want to listen to them go at it. They argue so much lately…"

"Really?" Isaac asked. This was news to him.

"Yes. Mostly about Sheba. Felix wants to marry her, and Mom and Dad are totally against it. They say it's because of her illness, but_ I _think it's because she's not from around here. I think they'd rather have him hook up with someone from Vale and settle down, have some kids… he and Sheba were talking about going off traveling alone before she got sick… This is the first time it's really come to shouting, though…" There were tears welling in her brown eyes. Without thinking, Isaac took her in his arms and held her tight. She stiffened for a moment in shock, then returned his embrace and buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing quietly.

* * *

The guards had been expecting just about anything. (And most likely multiple 'anythings' armed with high-powered explosives and big swords.) They had _not, _however, been expecting to see one lone little girl, no older than seventeen, pale and haggard, wearing tattered, blood-soaked, outlandish clothing carrying nothing but a broken sword with a hilt that seemed to be made out of solid gold and a black leather grip, complete with a strip of leather tied around the hilt, almost as if the thing was most commonly worn as a necklace.

Wide silver eyes stared up at them out of a face that would have been quite beautiful had it not been pale from blood loss and drawn thin by pain and exhaustion.

"I… surrender…" she gasped in a half-whisper before toppling forward to lay in a heap amongst the smoking rubble that had been the door to the storeroom.


	4. New Quests

Disclaimers: I do not own Golden Sun. I do not own starbursts. I don not own skittles.

Author's note: Erk. Spelled Hammet's name wrong in the last chapter. (Kudos to Kd7sov for caching that. I can't spell for my life…) However, Hama seems to be spelled with one OR two m's… so I'm just leaving it as is 00;;. Names with m's in them do NOT like me…

I don't think we'll be seeing a lot of Alanna for a few chapters. She'll be too busy sleeping off the blood loss, and the fact that she totally abused her body past its breaking point. (Which is my sneaky way of keeping her in Kalay until Isaac, Felix, and company get there Mwahahaha.)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand… REVIEWER RESPONSES!

**Raseyu Dragon**: When I make multiple chapters, I make them each as a separate word document file. You add them onto by first going to the 'document manager' and uploading the new chapter, and then going to the 'chapter manager' link on your login screen. (I THINK that's what you were asking about… was I any help?)

And muses… hmm, what exactly DO muses do, anyway? Hmm… (Starts thinking) Anyway, I'll be sure to read your story as soon as I'm done with this…

**Kd7sov**: Hmm… When I made this up, I sort of thought of the Light magic being like a primary element. Phoenix Clan secondary elements are Fire and Earth (since these are the only types of Adept that Vale seems to produce), while Dragon Clan secondary elements are Wind and Water. However, it is possible to have a different element, although it is very rare. (In Alanna's family, she's a Wind Adept, Laurel's a Water Adept, Heather is an Earth Adept, and Rosemary is a Fire Adept.) Does that clear things up for you?

**GSGBARPG-girl**, **sam**, **Flora Jupiter Vixen**, **Spirit Seer**, **Shiny Milotic**, **Corycian Muse**, and anyone else I might have missed: YAAY! I'm glad you like my story! (does a happy dance chanting "Seventeen Reviews! Seventeen reviews!) I'm so happy everyone seems to think Alanna's realistic. I've been nurturing this story for several YEARS now, so I'm glad everyone likes her!

By the way… any opinions on what color Sheba's eyes really are? I know the look sorta lavender in the game, but they're green in all the pictures of her in my guidebook for Lost Age. So now I'm confused. Opinions? Preferences? I need feedback here…

Chapter 3: New Quests

"Unh…" Sheba groaned, sitting up groggily. She felt leaden, weak, dizzy… and hadn't she been moving beams with her Psynergy? What was she doing in a bed? Unless… "Not _another _one…"

"You're awake?" Mia asked, relieved. "That's good, and I have some great news. We figured out what's wrong with you!"

"What?" Sheba asked. "Does Felix…"

"He, Isaac, and Garet talked with the Wise One. The Wise one told them that you can use some different Psynergy, he called it light and dark magic. We decided that it probably had something to do with Alchemy, since your problem didn't start until after the lighthouses were lit…" Mia babbled, clearly excited that they had found the root of the illness and could now cure it.

"Wait, wait… you lost me at the light and dark magic bit. Could you slow down and explain a little better?" Sheba pleaded. Mia blushed and went back to the beginning.

After about a half an hour, when Sheba could think of no more questions to ask, the room fell silent. Sheba felt… well, happy. Though she was a bit ashamed to admit it, she was actually looking forward to getting out of New Vale. Felix's parents hadn't been thrilled over their relationship, and were still having trouble accepting what they had done by lighting the lighthouses. In fact, many in Vale were still dubious that the eight travelers had done the right thing by releasing the power of Alchemy.

They'd never been to Prox. They'd never seen that black rift near the Mars Lighthouse. They hadn't felt the ominous energy pouring out of it, waiting to swallow the entire world. (Come to think of it, hadn't only she and Ivan been sensitive to that? Maybe it was a Wind Adept thing…)

They'd never been to Gaia Falls. They'd never looked out over the edge of the world and seen the endless sea of clouds that would have been their fate.

She was looking forward to getting away from the suffocating doubt that was pouring out of the small minds around her. And, she would be with Felix and all her closest friends. So even if their new quest failed, even if she died, it would not be alone in a sea of antagonistic thoughts, but surrounded by the friends that she held nearest and dearest.

_Plus, there's always the off chance that I might FINALLY get some answers about my past! _She thought. She had been very disappointed when she had found no clues to her identity whatsoever in the Jupiter lighthouse. Even now, she still burned with the desire to finally know where she really came from, and who her parents really were. Perhaps she was really a member of this Dragon Clan…

"So. We leave at sunrise," Sheba said, looking out the window of the newly completed inn. The sky was already brightening in the East.

"Yes. You know, I feel oddly… giddy," Mia said. "I am truly looking forward to traveling again."

"So am I, Mia."

The two girls exchanged a grin before they dove across the room to go through their old things and find what they needed for this new adventure.

* * *

"That's not good enough, Raven!" Heather hissed into the receiver of the phone as she dumped yet another spoonful of sugar into the mix of soda, cherry flavored starbursts, and other sweets that her younger sisters had dubbed "Black Magic". None of them could stand coffee, which had led them to brew some rather… interesting substitutes, some of which tasted better than others. Heather took a sip and almost gagged at the overwhelming sweetness of the cherry-grape flavored solution, but the sugar concentration alone might be able to keep her awake for another six hours… "You do realize that we're going on forty eight hours since the Master disappeared? I want results, not excuses. Do not bother me unless you have something worthwhile to report," she snapped, slamming down the phone just shy of the amount of force required to do damage to it. Heather knew this from experience. She had broken many less durable pieces of technology like this before. The toaster. The microwave. The television…

"Laurel! Get your butt down here!" Heather shouted, forcing more Black Magic down her throat.

Thump thump thump…

"Any news?" Laurel gasped as she skidded into the kitchen, decked out in full battle armor, including her shortswords and her bow.

"No. Which is why I want you to go to New York and contact our father's brother, Marlo. I think it's time we started investigating from a non-Clan perspective. Get out of that armor and take your cell phone, and leave the phone on this time, Laurel. I need to be able to contact you in case we DO find Alanna."

"…my bow?"

"No, you cannot take it! Besides, if you run into anything more threatening than some street thugs, you know you can summon it. On second thought… leave your dragonmail on under whatever you do decide to wear for street clothes." Dragonhide was bulletproof.

"Mother would not approve of you using Dad's old Mafia connections," Laurel commented. The teen seemed amused.

"Well, Mother's dead, isn't she?" Heather snapped, annoyed. She glared at Laurel. "And she has been for four years now. We just do our best without her."

"Hey, I wasn't complaining or anything!" Laurel said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "I'll go up and change and get leaving already! And… wait, that's Black Magic in the coffee pot! Gimmie some!" Heather growled and relinquished the pot.

"Just make sure Rose doesn't drink any. You know how prone she is to getting sugarhigh, and she has school today…"

"Luna's saving grace, that's the last thing we need right now," Laurel groaned, pouring herself a full-sized glass of the vile concoction. Heather shot her a disapproving glance, which Laurel studiously ignored. Well fine, it was _her _heart she was risking. 'Why don't you let her drop out the way Alanna and I did?" Laurel asked before chugging the thing down like a guy. Before getting an answer to her question (And still ignoring the Glare of Disapproval that was boring into her back) she tossed the plastic glass into the sink and dashed off to her bedroom.

Heather glanced at the microwave clock. 6:51 am. She had work in an hour, on top of everything else.

"How do I manage?" Laurel wondered with a chuckle, turning back to the pile of computer paper and old books that were strewn around her laptop. Alanna would turn up. She always did…

* * *

A pair of black eyes opened slowly. Every breath stung a little, in memory of the punctured lung she'd received from Alanna's little 'present'. Even with Psynergy, she would be slow in healing.

Liriel hissed in annoyance. She'd almost had that interfering brat's soul! So close… so close she could taste it…

And then she had been blasted by a spell she hadn't been expecting, right at the moment of her triumph. She had to admit, grudgingly, that Alanna was exceedingly clever. Liriel had not been expecting that attack at all, she had not even expected Alanna to pull off a one-handed block. Simply brilliant… if Alanna hadn't been the wielder of that so-called holy sword, they might even have been allies… they certainly shared some of the same beliefs…

But no, that would never be. Alanna was the wielder of the Sacred Sword. And that meant she had to die…

_Speaking of which, where is that pest? _She wondered, idly casting out her senses.

Nothing. No blazing, searing pain. Not even a prickle. But that was impossible! Unless…

_Unless she fled to a different world, _Liriel thought numbly. She sucked in a painful breath to issue a stream of curses. There were _thousands_ of different worlds. And Alanna could be hiding in any one of them.

Gingerly, painfully, Liriel dragged herself out of the sick bed. It could take her _years _to track down Alanna. So, she might as well get started…

"Mistress Liriel! You musn't…"

Liriel didn't stick around long enough to hear what she musn't do. Before the doctor had had finished his sentence, she had already shouldered her scythe, Terminus, and vanished through the mirror that was next to the bed.


End file.
